


Siren Song

by threeturn



Series: tumblr fic [2]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Crack, M/M, Yachtgate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-23
Updated: 2016-07-23
Packaged: 2018-07-26 07:15:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7565068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/threeturn/pseuds/threeturn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Niall's turned into a fucking fish.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Siren Song

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted [on my tumblr](http://valencing.tumblr.com/post/141982273502/fezpo-replied-to-your-post-hello-tumblr-i-want), now migrating some of my shortest fics here for safekeeping.

_So they sent their ravishing voices out across the air_  
_and the heart inside me throbbed to listen longer._  
-Homer's _Odyssey_ , tr. Robert Fagles

Harry sits by the rail of the yacht wearing his smallest pair of white swimming trunks. He’s having an amazing time with his mom and Kendall and Kendall’s mom and Jeff and Jeff’s girlfriend and Ellen and Ellen’s wife and a bunch of other close friends he loves even though he can’t remember their names right now. Still, he’s feeling a bit overwhelmed. It’s so hot and like fifteen different people have rubbed suncream onto his back and everyone keeps saying, “Congratulations, Harry!” and he keeps saying “you too!” by mistake. He just needs to sit by the water and center his energy.

When he sees the flash in the water below, he thinks at first he’s seen a flying fish. He hopes that a photographer caught the moment, because he knows how endearing and inspiring it would be for his fans to see him communing with a flying fish. But then the creature shoots out of the water again, and this time Harry can see it’s a lot bigger than a flying fish. In the split second before it dives back into the water, Harry hopes it’s not a shark, because sharks are scary, and he also hopes that if the shark is going to leap into the yacht and bite him, Kendall will save him.

He’s about to go see if Kendall would know how to pacify a killer shark when a shower of water momentarily blinds him. Harry wipes his eyes and sees—a hallucination, obviously. He’s been overly stressed and not eating enough salad with his salad and his mind is playing tricks on him. Because there’s Niall in the water by the yacht, chest rising from the waves. His hair has gone a bit shaggy and brown and his shoulders are wider than Harry remembers but he definitely looks like Niall. Harry remembers that in olden times, sailors would see marine mammals in the water and decide they were beautiful ladies. Wishful thinking, obviously. What’s happening now must be the same phenomenon.

“But I wish you were Niall,” Harry tells the hallucination, who is probably just a big fish. “I miss him.”

“It’s me, you idiot,” says the hallucination.

“Haha,” says Harry to the hallucination. “For a minute I thought you called me an idiot…God, I love it when Niall does that. It makes me feel like he knows me to the very core of my being and loves me anyway.”

The hallucination rears itself up higher out of the water. It really does look so much like Niall. Harry can even see the hair on his chest, glistening with water. “I DID CALL YOU AN IDIOT. BECAUSE YOU’RE A FECKIN IDIOT.”

“Even though you’re not real,” says Harry, “you’re making me feel so warm and good inside.”

The hallucination rolls its eyes. “I am real. I’m just a merman now.”

“You’re a what?” says Harry, momentarily forgetting he’s talking to a hallucination. He looks more carefully at the beautiful creature moving through the water along with the ship. It can’t be Niall, though, because he can’t see Niall’s legs. Instead, Niall’s torso seems to blend sleekly into an iridescent mesh. Scales, Harry finally realizes. Niall’s turned into a fucking fish. Except he hasn’t, because it’s obviously all in Harry’s head.

“I’m a merman,” says Niall, with that patient tone he gets when he’s trying to advise Harry on his golf swing. “Living on land was very stressful and I wanted to get away and not have to deal with anyone. So I decided to become a merman. It’s very interesting. Did you know how many different types of seaweed there are? _Acrosorium ciololatum, alaothamnion sepositum, ahnfeltia plicata_ —”

“Hold on,” says Harry.

“You can see the stars really well out here, too,” says Niall happily.

“Wow,” says Harry. “I can’t believe my subconscious knows enough seaweed names to hallucinate this.”

Niall lets out a strangled noise and dives back into the water. His tail flashes in the sun. Harry rubs his eyes again. His head is starting to hurt. Then Niall surfaces, spitting out a mouthful of water.

“Oh good,” says Harry. “I’m glad you’re back. I know you’re a figment of my imagination, but I wasn’t ready to say good-bye.”

“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” Niall mutters. “Why do I even try? Just thought you might be up for a quick swim, mate. See what it’s like on the other side of the yacht.”

But Harry’s kneeling by the rail now so he can lean out further. If he reached out his hand and Niall reached out his hand, they could almost touch. He feels ridiculous talking to a hallucination, but there’s something emotionally satisfying about it anyway. “Niall, I wanted to say this to the real you, but somehow the time was never right, and then I got a call from Jeff, you know how it is. But if you were here right now, I think I could finally tell you. You’re really special to me. I like being around a ton of people and having them tell me how funny and charming I am but it never really matches up to being all alone on a tourbus with you. I just—” Harry breaks off. It’s amazing how much it looks like Niall right there in the water, watching him, eyes wide. “Like, even when you’re not really here I’m dreaming that you’re here. Okay, I’m just gonna say it. Niall, I lo—”

The dinner bells rings. “Damn,” says Harry. “I have to go have some quinoa now.”

“Don’t go!” says Niall. He reaches toward Harry, arms glowing in the setting sun.

“Bye,” says Harry, getting to his feet. He shakes his head. “Listen to me. Saying good-bye to a fish.” But even as he walks back to his dining cabin he thinks he can hear Niall’s voice in the distance, calling _you idiot!_ soft and low. Harry knows it’s not real. It’s just that he loves Niall’s voice. He always has.


End file.
